Baby #2, stats, pictures, old wives tales...guesses anyone?

Okay, now that I am finally showing (quite a bit), I figured I would do a post all about baby #2.  We, of course, decided not to find out the sex of the baby until he/she arrives in April...but that means that we have a couple months to get a guessing game going of what's the sex, what date will baby arrive,  how much will baby weigh, and how long will baby be :)

We have been blessed with another wonderful pregnancy.  Everything has been going great, baby is growing well, kicking up a storm (mainly at 3am and 7pm), seems to already push back on Ava if she is leaning too much on my belly, and making me look like I have a basketball tucked under my shirt.  We are so very blessed!  I am constantly in awe of God's design - it is truly a miracle to see all the changes that my body is undergoing while another little life is growing inside me.

For those of you who wish to guess, I will help by providing some information for an educated guess.  I will say that this pregnancy has been quite similar to my pregnancy with Ava, so here are some stats:

	Pregnancy #1 (Ava)	Pregnancy #2
Morning Sickness	No	No
Cravings	Sweets	Sweets
Baby's heartrate	120-145	148-160
Weight gain	steady	same as #1
Belly shape	round, out front	round, out front

As you can see, the main difference is the heartrate...but, with Ava my doctor's appointments were always in the morning and baby#2 has always been in the afternoon...so who knows?

I've done a couple gender prediction quizzes online, the ones that use all the different old wives tales to predict the gender.  But, like my pregnancy with Ava, they always come back with the results: "Congratulations, you have a 50% chance of having a girl and 50% chance of having a boy!" ... so no insight there.

I am now 29 weeks along, so I figured I should post some pictures of my belly (considering I have some decent ones of my belly from when I was 29 weeks pregnant with Ava). 





29 weeks pregnant with Ava

29 weeks pregnant with baby #2



29 weeks pregnant with Ava

29 weeks pregnant with baby #2

And just one more of the pointy belly for fun :)

So let the guessing games begin!! :) 

For the record, Ava was 6lbs. 3 oz.(2.8kg) and 18.5 inches long (47cm)

Email me your guess:
Sex -
Birthday (official due date is April 18) -
Baby's weight -
Baby's length -  

Ava going for a walk on a sunny but cold January afternoon :)

Ava and Bo both LOVE going for walks.  Just mentioning the words "walk" or "outside" gets them both excited.  Yesterday it was kind of cold, but beautifully sunny, so we thought it would be nice to take them both for a walk.  We figured if we bundled Ava up in her winter coat that is really only going to fit her next year, and put a blanket on her legs in the wagon that she would be fine.

... of course we didn't count on her wanting to actually walk much more than ride!  Either way, she had a great time!

All bundled up...

loving being outside

even if the jacket if swallowing her up!!!

the kid loves to walk! :)

Like father, like daughter ... in step together ;)

Then, of course, there is nothing like cuddling up on the couch to watch the Discovery Channel together.  Daddy could not be any happier to see that his little one loves watching nature shows as much as he does! :)  Too cute for words!!!



Ava's Phone Conversation

Ava is great at multitasking!  She likes to do multiple things at once, that includes talking on the phone, speed walking around the house, checking out her books, toys, Bo, etc.  I almost had to run to keep up with her... she really loves to talk on the phone and if she grabs a cell phone, you can be sure she will find someone to call in less than 10 seconds!!!

And just to show what I mean, take a look at this video :)

or click here to view the video via YouTube



She's got rhythm...

Just a cute little video of Ava watching a little samba cartoon on YouTube... she can't stand still, I guess the samba is in her blood.  She is part Brazilian after all :)



or click here to watch via YouTube

Amazing Ava...incredible what she can do!

We are completely in awe of how much and how quickly Ava learns new things.  It is now impossible to say just how many words she can say, since in the last 5 weeks she has picked up an enormous amount of new words!  We don't even know all the words she knows. 


Let me give some examples...


Just last night we were talking about fixing our doorbell and as soon as Ava heard the word doorbell, she said "ding-dong"!  How does she know that?


When we got home from school yesterday, she said "Yay! Home!" as I pulled in the driveway.  Then saw the truck in the driveway and said "Ca-ca? (her word for truck) Daddy?"  How did she know that?


Whenever you ask her if she wants to take a bath, she responds "ok...shower?" - this child loves feeling the water run down her back, and will just stand still under the water (the only time she really stands still) :)


She also likes to put things together that belong together, and that includes people!  For example, Ava likes to say “Bobby” all the time, so sometimes I ask her who is at Bobby’s house and our conversation goes something like this...

Ava – “Bobby?”

Me – “Who else is at Bobby’s house”

Ava – after a short pause “Ay-en?”

Me - "Aiden and who else?"

Ava – “Ea-ver?”

Me – “Heather, that’s right.  And who else?”

Ava – “Bidgette?”

Me – “Yes, Bridgette!”

Or if she sees Vovó, she asks about Vovô and even Pipoca (who she calls Poca)!

She understands everything we say to her, whether in English or Portuguese.  She loves reading books and quickly memorizes what things/pictures she will find in which books and on which pages.  Ava still climbs on everything, and loves to read us books, sing songs (ABC's and Old MacDonald being some of her favorites), and continues to just be a very busy girl. 

Ava is simply amazing!

Aiden's baptism in Dallas

The second weekend in January was Aiden's baptism.  We drove up to Dallas to spend the weekend and to do the honor of being the little guy's godparents.  We had a great time, even though the weather got really cold and it even snowed!!!  Little did we think we would be driving back in a snow storm, but it is always fun to get a little taste of snow :)  Plus, it was pretty cool to see the snow covering the ground as we left the church.

Vovo and her grandbabies

Ava learning the hymns

Ava and Bridgette watching up close the preparation for Aiden's baptism

Such a beautiful celebration!

...and then our drive home :)

that's a lot of snow for Texas!